Mazón: ‘We are strengthening research and talent attraction programmes to place universities at the forefront of knowledge and transfer to the productive fabric’.

During his speech, the head of the Consell focused on the ‘clear commitment to attracting and retaining scientific talent and listening to the scientific community in order to respond to their demands’. He referred to the VALER Programme, a pioneering initiative to welcome internationally renowned researchers to the Valencian Region, and the GEN-T2 Plan to promote industrial doctorates.

Mazón highlighted the increase of more than 12% in the budget earmarked for research grants under the I+D+i programme to reach 64 million euros ‘to promote projects that place us at the forefront of knowledge’. Along these lines, he announced the creation of a new programme with a budget of 4 million euros ‘for the acquisition of scientific equipment’ and the construction and updating of I+D+i infrastructures will continue.

He also explained that ‘the execution of research projects will be able to begin as soon as they are awarded, which will allow researchers to work with greater certainty and without any limitation on the number of years’. Up to now, the execution of research projects began on 1 January of the current year.

Likewise, within the framework of administrative simplification, he has advanced a new telematic system for the justification of research grants that ‘drastically reduces the bureaucratic burden’. Mazón highlighted the creation of the Generalitat’s Science Portal, which will allow companies, researchers and citizens ‘to access scientific progress and facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the productive fabric’.

Mazón explained that ‘we want to promote real innovation for our productive fabric in order to favour high quality employment and new opportunities in key sectors that generate added value and improve our competitiveness’.